Wagers and Promises
by Quincette
Summary: Rin's summers and Sesshoumaru's visits post canon, Chapter 2: the 9th summer. Rin's kanji lesson. Miroku might have taught her a few inappropriate words : much to Sesshoumaru's chagrin. Fluff ahead!
1. 8th Summer : Farewell

**It's been 9 years since put anything in this web**

**10 years since I joined , I must be ancient compared to all of you guys**

**But apparently I need to come back, hahaha**

**And get my version of post canon Rin/sesshoumaru out of my system to join the rest of its comrades online.**

**Ratings will climb as chapter progress**

**As usual, I do not own Inuyasha, copyright belongs to Takahashi Rumiko, no profit gained from this fic,**

**I do however, wish to know what do you think of it :)**

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**Wagers and Promises**

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**Chapter 1 : 8th Summer : Farewell**

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"_She follows me by her own will."_

"_Oh but I wager, great Inu no Taishou, that given the fair choice she might want to reconsider."_

"_Speak plainly old woman."_

"_Of course the child hasn't really live amongst her own kind… at better times."_

"_And now is the better time?"_

"_It seems so."_

"_I will be seeing her."_

"_We will not stop you."_

_As if you can. "And she'll have her choice."_

"_When she is ready, and not before."_

"_Tell me, what it is this Sesshomaru will gain out of this… wager, as you said it?"_

_"Oh my lord demon, if this old woman may be so bold to presume, she'd say you do not need to gain anything but victory, is she grossly mistaken?"_

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It was said that a fair bargain leaves both parties unhappy. The Lord Youkai of the West was not sure about the fairness of the exchange he just made with the old miko or if he's unhappy either. The old miko didn't look unhappy. The little girl soon to be left behind, however, had been most unhappy.

Her hiccups brought his attention back to her. Cradled in his arms, she looked so small and harmless. Not a few minutes before she made quite a show of her tantrum.

She had been stunned when he told her his decision to leave her behind in the village with the old miko that morning. He had answered all the questions she managed to stammer out with brisk, dismissive, matter of fact replies and, shoulders slumped she complied, or so he thought.

As the dusk crept nearer and nearer and he had been ready to start his journey, she had grown agitated, clinging to his hakama tightly, babbling promises that she'd be good, she'd be _better_, she'd behave, and that she asked nothing but for the Lord Youkai to allow her to follow him.

He had stopped answering her, prefer instead to stare at her disapprovingly, something he fully knew discourage her from trying to bargain her way out of his decision. There had been brief, a sulky silence. Then came the tears, flooding her small face. As she wiped them off with her sleeves, she tried to resume her plea, but it came out in hoarse incoherent garbled of noises. It frustrated her, and as she tried harder to speak, she broke in unstoppable sobs. Her tiny frame shook with each one.

He had taken the human whelp on his arms then. She's so small, even for one with no more than eight summers. He should have just left her with no word. But then she would run after him, with of without his leave. He had to have her word.

"Rin," he said to the sobbing bundle in his arms. "I will be back."

He feels her clenches tightened on his haori. She looked up at her, face flushed, eyes still questioning.

She smelled of salty tears and misery.

"I will be back when you are ready. You will have your choice. You have my word."

His hope to have her word in return was met with her burying her face on his chest. He felt her heart beat faster and sensed sliver of fear in her. "I always make good on my words Rin. Do you doubt this Sesshomaru?"

Face buried his haori still, she shook. Her tiny hands moved away, finding grasps on his silver hair. He let out a small involuntary take of breath as she yanked it and looked up, staring his eyes straight.

_This is most uncomfortable_. He stared back the insolent tiny creature. Her violent sobs had stopped, replaced by small hiccups.

"You have my word." Of why the Lord Youkai of The West felt that he needed to repeat the word he himself was not sure. "Now I will have yours that you will stay. You will not wander off. I will visit on you to make sure that you do."

He could see something shifted in her eyes. "Would you have me came to this place again and not finding you here?"

She swallowed a few sobs, took a labored breath and mustered a weak, "No."

"You will stay in this place." Somehow it sounded more like a question.

"Yes…" she said weakly.

He held her closer at her answer. He had had a feeling something like this would have happened, what with the child so willful, but it had gone more smoothly on his mind, and considerably quicker. He was growing more unsettled by the minutes, something tightened on his chest. He closed his eyes, willing the sensation to go away, and found himself absent mindedly stroking her back.

She had fallen into an exhausted sleep. Her breathing gradually steadied, occasionally interrupted by residual hiccups. Her hands, however, were still clasped in a death grip on his silver hair.

He sighed. Drawing his claws, he cut the locks off. He wouldn't risk prying her hands and waking her. He inhaled deeply, storing her scent his mind. Even marred by tears, dirt or blood she had always smelled of summer meadows; fresh grass and wild flowers.

Carrying her to the miko's hut, and leaving her to sleep on the futon had been a blur. What he noticed the most when he hastened his departure was how the loss of her insignificant weight on his hands strangely weighed on his steps.

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**Author's Note**

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**Thank you for reading, stay tuned for next chapter,**

**oh and if you're interested in reading my stuff fell free to see my profile page (be warned though, last time I updated the profile was in 2003 (yes, I am an old old timer!) and my previous Sesshoumaru and Rin fic was written around that time (around 2nd season of the series, yes i imagine things too much between th elord demon youkai and his ward, but it's proven now ne?;)) and now that the series has ended would qualify as alternate reality (and I terribly need to fix the grammar and the thesaurus abuse hahahah)**

**till next chapter :***


	2. 9th Summer : Kanji Lesson

**Chapter 2 : 9****th ****Summer : Kanji Lesson**

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Rin groaned, straightening her stiff shoulders. She had stayed in same hunched position for too long again. Massaging her upper arm, she fell on her back. The sky was the clearest blue, the breeze warm and the thick grass on her back provided a comfortable cushion. She watched dandelion seeds danced in the air for a while.

Her thought drifted off to the days of wandering the land with The Lord Youkai of The West.

Where was he, she wondered? Was he under the same sky right now? He said he'd be visiting, but almost a year had passed since then. She always looked up to the hills, hoping to finding his silhouette standing proud, and found no one, every time. She will not give up though, the Lord Youkai always make good of his word, she had that at least, and some of his silver locks. Her hand automatically dug her yukata folds, fingering the silk pouch where she kept them safe and braided inside.

Inuyasha didn't have anything, not even a proper farewell with Kagome, yet he faithfully visited the Bone Eater Well every three days, waiting for a miracle to happen. Like him, her spending most of her free time wandering from the busy village on the clearing near the forest was her own way of waiting.

She felt a fresh pang of sadness, as she remembered the morning she woke up on Kaede-baachan's hut, confused, thirsty, still clutching The Lord Youkai's silvery locks on her hands. He had cut them off and left her while she'd been sleeping. She covered her eyes with an arm, refusing to dwell on it. She refocused her senses into her peaceful surroundings and dozed off.

A sudden strong gust of wind woke her from her nap, but not quick enough for her to gather her work before it scattered them in all directions.

"Shimatta!" she grabbed her tools and dashed after them. She cursed herself for forgetting to weigh them with stones. She managed to catch few pages that landed nearby, but immediately saw that it wasn't the best strategy, as the wind blew the rest even farther away from her.

Still cursing, she ran after them while simultaneously scanning the ground near her feet in case she missed some.

And her face smacked into something solid.

She landed on her butt with a thud, scattering dandelion seeds into the air.

She hadn't fully registered what happened until she heard his voice.

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"Mind where you are going Rin."

"Sesshoumaru-sama!"

Her delighted squeal came even before she looked up to see him. He stood tall in front of her while she beamed up at him. He had predicted she'd lunge to hug him, or his feet, but few seconds passed without any of them moving. Finally he crouched down, leveling his gaze with hers.

"Homework?" he handed her the rest of her previously scattered papers.

"Un," she nodded, wondering when did he manage to collect them all and how did she miss seeing him did it. "K-kanji lesson from houshi-sama," she added, stuttered.

"Hn." He raised his eyebrows. _The perverted monk?_

He had expected her to resume their interaction with her customary chattering about her human days and her human live at the little human village with all other humans and whatever petty things humans do. But then there was that pause again, stretching the seconds into a rather awkward silence, their gazed locked the whole time. Must he also restart the conversation? What did they do to this loquacious infant a year he left her there?

"Well?" was his best attempt.

"Rin missed you so much," her voice came out choked, tears welling up on her eyes.

"So you cried when I left and you cried when came?"

She let out a chuckle. "I haven't cried." She protested. Oh how she terribly, miserably missed him. She raised one arm to wipe her nearly spilled tears with her yukata sleeve while the other one clutched her bundle of papers. She didn't notice that the sleeve was stained by some wet ink on the papers and as she dragged it across her face it left a dark smudge alongside her cheek.

The Lord Youkai sighed inaudibly, his eyes softening. Somehow, somewhere inside of him, he could not find a word for it but he found it to be terribly endearing. He was extending a hand, intending to wipe her small face from ink and tears – when the little girl leaped forward, wrapping her arms on his neck in a crushing hug –catching him completely off his guard she knocked him back to the grass.

Well that was a first, knocked to the ground by a little ningen girl. Had there been a witness, he must kill them for seeing this. But there was none, and partially stunned, and partially curious he let them be in the position for a while. Staring at the bits of cloud in the clear blue sky, he found himself doing what he'd always done before, absentmindedly stroking her back.

Her hair had grown, and so has the rest of her. But her smell, he found himself inhaling deeply, tinted with salty tears, but it was still the same, and there was something else he found in it, a certain warmth he found to be pleasant, _joy_.

He rearranged their position to a sitting one, the little girl nestled comfortably on his crossed legs.

"This Sesshoumaru does not come to see your tears all day Rin,"

Rin nodded to his chest. She drew her head back and gasped. "Sesshoumaru-sama! Your clothes –"

The white was stained with tears-diluted ink.

Silently he took the wide-eyed infant's chin and wiped her smudged face with his own sleeve.

"Nevermind that. Now show me what all this inky fuss is about," he said to her bewildered face.

Rin turned around on his lap to spread her work on the grass.

"These are the characters I have mastered. And these houshi-sama tell me to practice on writing them," she said, not without a pride. "And on those, houshi-sama wants me to try to guess what the characters meant," she pointed a few pages with a more complicated characters on them. "And this –," she gasped and tried to hide the paper.

It was too late, Sesshoumaru's eyes had caught the character of his name written on it. She took the paper from her hand and scanned it.

She looked up at him with hopeful eyes. Part anxious part curious. Eager for his approval and fearing his disapproval.

"You should strike this line before this one," he said, showing her, "everything else's correct."

She turned her eyes at the paper, beaming, and though she couldn't see her lord's face; his chin resting on the crown of her head; she could sense that he's pleased.

"I'm supposed to figure out the meaning of these," she showed him another page, "Houshi-sama said I should choose the one I like the best."

When the Lord Youkai didn't say anything, she added, "I know this one's this for Camphor Tree and that one for Thistle." She points at the characters 棆and 菻. "Kaede-baachan showed me when we went to pick herbs. I haven't figured the others. And I don't like camphor trees, they have sticky sap, and thistle's pretty but they have too many thorns . And that one," she points to character 凜, "I thought with the _tou_–kettle lid, _kuchi_–mouth and _nogi_–branches, this is a warm stove, but Kaede-baachan tell me this strokes here is _hyou_–ice. So that means this is cold or dignified. I don't really understand how a–,"

"These are Rin." He interrupted her

"Eh?"

"All this characters, Rin, have at least one way to be read as Rin."

"Oh!" her eyes grew wider. "I never knew that, my father always wrote my name in hiragana. My mother, she couldn't read," she babbled on.

She didn't even know her true name sake. Never would. If indeed she had been given one to begin with. The land had been so ravaged by wars that to ponder on a namesake was a luxury common humans did not have, not when their life was threatened every day, and their children might not last another. A name given without much a thought was more easily forgotten.

And all the characters the curated for her carried weight. There were, Sesshoumaru noticed, some characters of Rin that was omitted from the list, like 厘 Rin denotes 1/1000, a value so small it's negligible. He wondered if one of these less savory characters was actually one that was given by Rin's parents, for an easy detachment over a child who could perish any given moment.

Unconsciously Sesshoumaru pulled the human girl closer.

"Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"Hn?"

"What are these?" she points to the rest of the characters.

"It is _your_ homework Rin," he clipped.

She chuckled, "I ran out papers."

She heard a rustle, and then saw a wide white cloth spread on the ground; one layer of Sesshoumaru's inner garment.

"Use this," he said.

"But it's your–,"

"It's stained already. I will not wear it anymore."

Sheepishly Rin took out her brush, dipped it in her ink bottle and began to scribble on the pristine –albeit smudged on some part –white garment.

"This one she pointed to a character, 霖, this one's from _ki_–a tree, many trees. A forrest? And _ame_–rain. Rainy forrest?"

"The rain's more dominant. See? It covers all of the forrest."

"Like a rain spell?"

He nodded. _Like you, crying._

"I don't like it." She quipped. She couldn't go out on a day with rain spells.

She moved on the next character 琳. "It's character for lonely, isn't it? _Ki _for tree and _shiru _for sap? Kaede-baachan said sap's like tears for tree."

"Look closely, it's not '_shiru_'. It's _ou_," Sesshoumaru took the brush from her hand and the characters, "King, ruler, superior."

"So, king of the forest?" she rather liked that.

"No," he found himself searching for an explanation, "together they meant jewel or the tinkling sound jewels made."

"Like Shikon no Tama speaks?"

"No," he found teaching a human infant was not easy after all, "Like precious stones tinkle."

"I don't know what that's like."

_Of course she does not know what a tinkling sound of king's treasure is like_. "They made a sound like a summer chime. Like those you made with seashells. But clearer, prettier sound."

"It's pretty?," he looked up at him, smiling. He gave a slight nod. "Then I like it," she said, even though she doesn't really understand how a tree is a jewel to a king and what's their tinkling sound's like. "But it's too close to lonely. So next!" she chirped.

She copied the next character from the sheet Miroku gave her, 綸, "It's from _satsu _– volume, and _ito_–thread. So threads? Or woven cloth?" she looked at him again.

"There's _ichi _–one, here and _ko_–articles, here. But yes, it's thread, cloth. Silk, to be precise."

"Like this I'm writing on?"

"Hn."

"Oh it's lovely." But she hasn't made her choice yet. So they moved to the next character. An unbelievably complicated one麟 .

Sesshoumaru lifted his eyebrows; there are at least six component characters on that. "It's from Kirin," he said, cutting the long guessing game ahead.

"Kirin?"

"A creature. A daiyoukai from mainland." _She wouldn't want a youkai to be her namesake would she?_

"What is it look like? A deer?" she guessed, pointing the _shika_–deer component on the character. She liked deers. "A dancing deer that comes out at night on the cliff." She went on, alternately scribbling more component, _masu_–dancing, _gen_ –cliff, and _yuu_–evening.

Sesshoumaru snorted, there was no stopping this infant and her curiosity, "More like an overgrown deer, with stubby antlers who eats too much," he took the brush and scribbled the character component the little girl had missed, _kome_– rice, "and its breath stinks so bad it burns," he added _hi_–fire.

"Kakkoi! It's so cool, "she exclaimed.

Somehow it annoyed the Lord Youkai of the West, this image the little girl painted of other youkai on her head. So he did not mention that in mainland, that creature Kirin was also a symbol of shining mind, a genius. Maybe she could use the character had it not been other daiyoukai's name.

"Next." He announced.

"This," Rin pointed out the character 燐, "I know all of the components, _y__uu_–evening, _hi_–fire, _masu_–dancing, _kome_–rice? I'm not sure what that means, Kirin without the deer and the cliff… so dancing flame?" she tried, not sure where the rice fit in the picture.

"Phosphorous," he offered.

"That smelly thing Kaede-baachan said good for your skin?"

"That is sulphur."

"So what's phosphor's like?"

"It glows. It emanates light."

"Like the moon?"

"Like fireflies."

"Is it pretty?"

Oh kami! he was exasperated. Somehow this child managed to coax probably more words that he'd ever cared to utter last year alone.

"Onto the next one if you don't like it." he dismissed, refusing to further the verbal spar.

Both frowned at the next, last character, 倫, the little girl trying to decipher the symbols and him, for pondering the meaning. _What was that monk's trying to teach her?_

"I know all of the components, _ichi_–one, _ketsu_– staff, _ko_ – articles, _satsu_–volume, and _ka_–change, But I don't understand its meaning," she sighed. "One who holds staff, speaks volume?" she tried.

"It means one who accompanies. A companion," he said. _Or one who changes, one who enchants_, he added silently.

"Like Jaken-sama? He holds staff," she giggled.

Sesshoumaru was silent. Pondering on the word. There was a deeper meaning to this one he didn't tell the girl. It is also a character for ethics, morality, a prevailing righteous side to something. He found the word grandiose and redundant, like so many side of politics.

"You'll understand better when you're older," he dismissed, lamely, he thought, he shouldn't have said anything. "You made your choice?"

Rin turned on his lap and looked him. She was about to speak something but decided against it. Then she gave him a mischievous smile, "I haven't. I will let you know my choice later."

He arched his eyebrows, questioning.

"When I am older," she added, sticking her tongue out.

The Lord Youkai of the West was speechless, and not by choice.

"Rin in Hiragana for now," she turned away, rummaging for her next assignment.

"I think I'm supposed to find out what this verse is about," she handed him a paper, perfumed, he noticed.

"I can make out a word 'love' here. Beautiful, here, and here, and I think, wet and rain there and some variation of it I do not know yet, and I think this is milk?" she pointed at a character.

She saw the changes in his face. She's fascinated, it was rare for him to show such an apparent change of expression. He almost looked surprised. It must be an interesting word. "I know the character before it is 'one pair', and before it 'most lovely'," she tried to gauge a further reaction.

Sesshoumaru was scandalized.

_Breasts_. That what the characters is, _Milky White Breasts_, to be exact.

What, how, why that _dirty_ monk? He scanned the page.

_Red Lips. Tongue. Kisses. Caresses. Sighs. Moans_.

Hel almost instantly obliterated the paper with poison from his claws.

"Ne, Sesshoumaru-sama? What's wrong?"

"Where is the monk, Rin?"

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"Was that Rin?" Sango entered the hut, the twins fast asleep on her hands. She caught a glimpse of Rin's back wrapped in a white yukata with a strange black and grey design, her steps skipping, before disappearing on a corner.

"Yes," her husband replied, his back to her, absorbed in something.

"What was that?" Sango asked.

"A letter from daiyoukai of the west, written on silk. Silk sleeve."

"Sesshoumaru? Was does he want?"

"To put it simply he wants to eat our children, make us make more children and then eat them too."

"What!"

"He put that rather eloquently too, look at this script; it's the ancient calligraphed form of kanji, only written on sutras now. I never knew he cares for literacy. And I think he let Rin decorate the borders," he says, utterly fascinated

"Never mind that! What's with the threat? _How_ can you be _so_ calm?" She cut him off, panicked.

Miroku sighed, "Remember that bawdy poem I wrote you?"

"What of it?" even panicked, she couldn't help to blush a little.

"There is a third page. I mixed it up with Rin's homework."

"YOU WHAT?"

He nodded, sheepishly. "Sesshoumaru came to see Rin this today. She showed him her work." He sighed. "Thank kami-sama that little girl hasn't got too many vocabularies yet."

"What will happen to us now?"

"Nothing. So long I don't make the same mistake again."

"How do you know that?"

"Rin told me. He wants to see me before but she said she wanted to spend all day just with him and no one else. And he relented."

"You are joking. This is Sesshoumaru."

"And this is Rin."

Sango went silent.

"Look, we'll keep vigil for a while if it makes you happy,"

She nodded. "I-I just. I can't believe he'd just send a letter."

"His kimono sleeve. Did you see Rin? She's wearing the rest of it. It's scribbled all over," he couldn't help smiling, "she looked so happy – well, more than usual. She insisted I give her this when I'm done,"

His wife still looked unconvinced.

"Since you still think we're on danger. And the twins are asleep. How 'bout we make the most of the night, hm? A daiyoukai might launch a personal vendetta over his ward's honor against us tonight," he grinned.

"Oh you." was all she managed.

"You are so adorable when you blush you know?"

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**Author's note**

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**Hello Minna-san**

**Thank you for reading this chapter**

**It's considerably longer than the first one, and my next chapter is more or less the same, I tend to over describe, please excuse me. The kanji characters I used for Rin's possible names exist, I did do a little research on it but it's very basic and might be very very wrong from an authentic Japanese point of view, thank god this is a fanfic **

**Anyway, please do review, I always want to know what my reader's thinking about my fic. And you're always welcome to check my (ancient) other fics.**

**See you on next chapter.**

**Cheers**

**Quincette**


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